Donald Trump said he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin for foot-dragging in talks over a ceasefire with Ukraine as the US president threatened secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil if no deal is done.
Mr Trump’s comments on Sunday revealed the frustration at the White House with the Russian president as negotiations over a settlement of the war in Ukraine continue on without a clear breakthrough.
The new threat to hit imports from countries that purchase Russian oil come as Mr Trump prepares to impose tariffs on goods from many of America’s largest trading partners on Wednesday. The president has proclaimed the moment “liberation day”, but the plan has caused turmoil in markets and anxiety among businesses and governments worldwide.
Mr Trump’s outburst at Moscow is a shift in tone for the US president who for weeks blamed Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, for being reluctant to strike a deal.
The US president chided Mr Putin for attacking Mr Zelenskiy’s legitimacy as Kyiv’s leader. “If we’re in the midst of a negotiation, you could say that I was very angry, pissed off ... when Putin started getting into Zelenskiy’s credibility,” Mr Trump told NBC News. “That’s not going in the right location, you understand?”
While Ukraine has agreed to American demands for a full 30-day ceasefire, Russia has rebuffed the plan and conceded only to a truce regarding energy infrastructure targets and maritime operations in the Black Sea – and only if the west first lifts sanctions on some agricultural goods.
Mr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of breaking the energy ceasefire at least twice since it was agreed. “Russia must be forced into peace – only pressure will work,” he said this weekend.
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb, who spent seven hours with Mr Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday including a round of golf, told the Financial Times the US president was “running out of patience” with Mr Putin over the ceasefire.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” said Mr Stubb on a visit to London where he will on Monday brief British prime minister Keir Starmer on his discussions with Mr Trump.
Mr Stubb said he had proposed setting a deadline of April 20th – which marks three months since Mr Trump returned to the White House – to accept a 30-day unconditional truce on land, sea and in the air. Both western and eastern Christian churches will celebrate Easter on April 20th this year, a rare calendar alignment.
“The Russians are stalling, they’re coming up with new conditions,” Mr Stubb said. “Let’s call Putin’s bluff for what it is. Russia at this stage does not want peace. So we need to force peace on Russia.”
Mr Trump had previously threatened Russia with new tariffs and sanctions if it resisted an agreement, but expanding the trade bluster to buyers of Russian oil in other countries will add more pressure on Mr Putin.
“If a deal isn’t made, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, I’m going to put secondary sanctions on Russia,” Mr Trump told NBC.
Mr Trump did not offer a clear explanation of what the plan would involve. He said “anybody buying oil from Russia will not be able to sell their product, any product, not just oil, into the United States”, but also said there would be a “25 to 50-point tariff on all oil”.
The US president added that he would slap “secondary tariffs” on Iran if it failed to make a deal on its nuclear programme as he renewed his threat of “bombing” Tehran if they did not strike an agreement.
